Thursday, October 9, 2014

Fences and Nighttime Scenes in Vancouver

Our (almost) daily visits to the café at Harrison Galleries yield something new every day. Often, a new artist is featured, but sometimes, just a move of a familiar piece to a new location will refresh its personality so that I see it in a completely different way. And, sometimes, when we are lucky, Jennifer Harrison has found the time in her busy life to do a new drawing (chalk) for the sign at their front door. I loved this one when I noticed it on Tuesday, and yesterday, remembered to take a photo of it.

We don't plan our days much in advance at all. The priority is to get out and about, but we usually decide where we will go as we stand beside our bikes, Black Jack loaded in the basket, our tummies full and brains exercised after having enjoyed café and crossword time at Harrison's. We weren't thinking of Theresa's "Good Fences" meme when we started out yesterday. Bill just thought we hadn't gone by Coal Harbour for a few days and I was happy to realize he was right. It takes us through downtown on dedicated bike routes, by Canada Place, and to a little pond with a pretty good field for Black Jack to have a run. Darkness was falling quickly as we arrived.

Regular readers will probably recognize this fence. It is just across from the pond and one of my favourites. You can see cars heading toward the Lions Gate Bridge and on to the north shore, many driving after a long work day downtown. I used to bike that route to work, and still remember the feeling of peace to have such a beautiful vista in front of me.

You've seen this fence before as well, but I thought it looked a bit different as dark fell, and..

with my handsome man and sweet dog posing..

in front of it. Black Jack's focus was not on the camera, but impressive nevertheless.

The Canada Geese flew, perhaps from this pond and over the marina to Lost Lagoon, or perhaps to the oceanside, or even, possibly, back and forth over the same location. There seemed an urgency to their flight, with "V" shapes and loud honking overhead every few minutes. I'm not sure if new flocks were arriving, or if it was the same one over and over.

The Vancouver geese, as far as I can tell, do not migrate and it's my theory that their instincts are a bit thrown off by our temperate climate.

Back to fences again, this one guides people down the ramp to the marina.

I'm still using the 300 mm lens most of the time so this is the "big picture" view..

and here are a couple of zoomed in..

reflections shots.

I soon realized that this was meeting time for a few good friends and their sweet dogs. The young ladies were close by,

enjoying the rough and tumble glee..

of their pups.

Sometimes, it was hard to tell..

where one began and the other..

left off.

Clearly comfortable together,

they romped..

and tussled..

and romped some more.

I felt good for them as well as for their humans. Watching animals play, I think, is one of life's great pleasures.

Not sure how to comment on this one but loved the shot :)

I thought this was a "That's it for me, folks" message, but a split second after I took the shot,

they were back at it again. Lucky dogs and happy humans, too!

I took a few pictures along the way as we retraced our route home. I'm always curious about that huge sulphur pile on the North Shore, and it appeared especially yellow lit up last night. I checked out this link and found this quote:

"...that sulphur pile is always there. It brings up the question of whether the sulphur people may be onto something. It is not a glamorous business. There is no particular magic to the business model: buy sulphur cheap in the interior somewhere, dump it in Vancouver until a ship comes in, and then sell it for a slightly higher price overseas.

But sulphur is always in demand. It is used for fertilizer, matches, batteries, bleach, laxatives, wine-making, shampoo and loads of other ubiquitous products.

Furthermore, it is something that Western Canada has in abundance. A lot of our production comes as a by-product from the oil sands, and sulphur output in Alberta is expected to soar in coming years as more oil sand capacity comes on stream.

Meanwhile, the drivers of demand for sulphur are strong. Experts at The Sulphur Institute (yes, there is such a thing), point out that around half of sulphur production goes into fertilizer. With a growing global population and high food prices, demand is likely to be solid far into the future."

I had never noticed the mauve lighting around the elevator that takes people down to the sea plane level,

and also realized we had never noticed during our daylight treks that the Lions Gate Bridge shows up at night from that same location.

And under the elevator? There's the convention centre at the right and those ever present cranes that one sees, it seems, from just about every location in Vancouver.

I zoomed in to take a photo of them, thinking they looked very different under night lights.

This morning, I was googling for a link that would give you some background about the cranes, but found something much better. This 10"x10"acrylic-on-canvas beauty is titled "Crayola Cranes" and is by Laura Zerebeski. That link will take you to her contact information should you be curious about pricing. I absolutely love her work!

I played around with some of the lights around us as Bill and I stood,

feeling the night air and enjoying the new after-dark perspective. I had never noticed the..

beautiful blue over the highest point of this building, but definitely thought it worth a photo. I'm sorry not to be able to identify it. I went to a "tallest buildings" site, but still am not sure of the building's name. Definitely something to check out on our next trip.

One last fence shot for TexWisGirl to conclude the post today. Many thanks to her for hosting and for being the best darn blog commenter on the face of the planet! Many thanks, to you as well, for taking time to stop by. I hope you are well into a very happy Thursday!

Hello Carol, wonderful series of images.. Seeing Black Jack and all the other doggies had me smiling.. They look like they were having fun.. I love the gorgeous colors and reflections at night.. Enjoy your evening and the weekend ahead.

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About Me

Life is good. I live with my little dog, Black Jack, have a dear sister in Ottawa, and am fortunate to have good friends who share in my joys and challenges. Black Jack and I both love a beautiful man named Bill, who came into our lives in August, 2007. I spend lots of time on my bike, and remember on most days to stop and admire the blooms, gaze at the birds and beasts, and take in the scenes around me.